the last time the two men spoke was almost a week ago. president obama is focused on the stalemate with congress over averting the fiscal cliff, but he's just not talking to house republicans about it. at the white house, he discussed the issue with a bipartisan group of governors. >> i know that the president wants a deal and he didn't try to handicap it. >> reporter: earlier this week, he told so-called middle class americans on twitter, keep pressure on congress. he's even ventured outside the beltway rallying supporters to do just that. >> i'm going to be asking for you to be making your voices heard. >> reporter: why isn't he calling speaker boehner? >> we speak frequently. >> reporter: when will the two of you sit down in a room? >> i don't think the issue right now has to do with sitting in a room. >> reporter: in part, the white house was burned with the negotiations in 2011 when lots of meetings failed to stave off a fiscal nightmare. but there's another strategy at play. some in the administration say they learned in the first t